#!/usr/bin/perl -w
#use strict;


  open (FF, "myfile.txt") ;
  
  if(!-e  FF, "myfile.txt")
    {
  open FF, "> myfile.txt";
  print FF "0\n";
  close FF;
    }
  
   else
   {
 sub get_record
   {
  open (FF, "myfile.txt") or die "Cannot open file: $! ";
  chomp(my $record = <FF>);
  close FF;
  return $record;
  }
  }
   
$text = &get_record('pid.dat');
print "text = $text\n";